Invisible
by Armads the Doom Bringer
Summary: Tenten feels invisible. No matter what she does, she doesn't stand out. But after someone leaves her an anonymous letter asking for her to meet them, her life changes in a way that makes her appreciate what she had.
1. Chapter 1

She felt invisible. Everywhere she went, it was like she didn't exist. It wasn't like she wasn't dedicated or talented or strong; she was all of these things. It wasn't that she wasn't beautiful, graceful, or intelligent; she was all of these things too.

But in the end, Tenten just seemed average. She didn't have the prestigious position as the Fifth Hokage's protégé like Sakura. She wasn't the next in line to lead her clan like Hinata. She wasn't as outgoing or as willing to flaunt her beauty like Ino. She was just... average.

It didn't help that she got herself beaten by Temari during the chunnin exams years earlier. Sure, she had gotten past it, but the fact she had been beaten and looked weak while her teammates had managed to win and lose respectively and still look strong gnawed at her. Neji was a Hyuuga clan protégé. Lee was Gai-sensei's favorite student. Tenten was just... there. Good enough to be a ninja, but not able to do anything to attract attention. Sure she was a master of thrown weapons and sealing jutsus; but those weren't the kinds of things that made people want to get to know you based on hearsay. Tenten didn't even think that she'd ever even had a rumor about herself get around.

She groaned and folded her arms behind her head as she walked down the streets of Konoha. This was one of the rare days when she didn't have anything to do; no training with Neji or Lee, no missions, no girl's outing with Sakura or Ino. Nope, all she had to do was collect her mail and then the rest of the day was hers.

Tenten wasted no time in collecting her mail from the postal center of Konoha. It wasn't like ninja could get their mail delivered to their door; it was a major security risk. It wouldn't be out of place to have a ninja send a bomb tag through the mail or something.

As if to reflect her boring lifestyle, her mail was mundane as anything you saw on a television show. Bills, bills, sweepstakes offer, more bills... and a letter with not return address. Her initial reaction was to just throw it away without opening it. It's not like it could be of any use to her. It was probably junk mail. Some magazine offer, or perhaps an ad for cheap dentistry.

Yet Tenten decided to open it anyway. It wasn't like it could hurt to do so right? She carefully ripped the top open, as if she was expecting it to explode on her. When it didn't, Tenten felt confident enough to actually pull the sole piece of paper out of the envelope.

Suddenly, she gasped. It had to be a joke. Nothing like this happened to her. Not even when she was in the academy! No one had ever written her a love letter, much less done it anonymously! Suddenly Tenten was excited by the possibility of being swept away in a romantic adventure with a secret admirer, just like in those romance novels. It was just too good to be true!

She almost bounded away as she followed the instructions on the letter. All it told her to do was to go to the gates of Konoha at three o'clock! It was even signed "your secret admirer" by this mysterious individual!

Of course, it could just be a joke. Tenten wouldn't put it past someone to drag her along with something like this. Her friends did always make fun of the fact that nothing interesting ever seemed to happen in her life. She could see how it could be seen as comical; she did spend her time with two green beasts and a prodigy. It was amazing that her life wasn't more interesting given the circumstances!

The gates of the city were as monumentally large as always; below them people went about their business while vendors on the sides of the road hocked their wares to travelers and locals alike. IT was almost refreshing to not have to worry about things going wrong in the village after the surprise attack by the Sound ninja years before.

Tenten began wandering around both sides of the gates, trying to spot who might have asked her to be here. She had no idea who she was even looking for, and it was doubtful that she'd simply be able to pick the person out if they didn't want to be found. To compound matters, as time went on, Tenten began believing more strongly that this was actually a joke; who sent letters asking someone to show up and then left them hanging unless it was supposed to be a prank?

Suddenly a loud cracking sound filled the air. Everywhere around her, people began screaming and running away from the gates to the city. Tenten had just enough time to look up and jump out of the way as part of the gate crashed down near where she had been standing. All around her, pieces of stone and wood fell to the ground in chunks, causing people to run in terror from them. Without missing a beat, Tenten began helping people get out of the way of the falling debris, trying her best to go for those who seemed like they'd have the biggest problem getting out of the way first.

As she moved in to push one of the people out of the way, more rubble fell all around her. She silently cursed under her breath, turning to move so that she could get out of the way. Without warning, something heavy hit her in the back of the head, causing Tenten to fall to the ground hard. The pavement was covered in a fine level of powder from the falling debris, and it felt cold to her even though people had spent the day walking on it.

Groaning, Tenten pushed herself to her knees and rubbed the back of her head. She didn't appear to be bleeding, and aside from being a bit disoriented, she didn't feel like she was injured in any way. Looking around, it seemed that everything that was going to fall had already done so and people were running over to where she was.

She waved to them, signaling that she was alright but strangely none of them seemed to pay her any attention.

"That woman who was helping people just got hit by the rubble!"

"Is she alright?"

Panicked voices filled the air as people began moving rubble to get anyone who was injured out from under the fallen wood and rock. Medic ninja began tending to various civilians, but were also making their way over to where Tenten was.

"Guys I'm fine! Go deal with people who need it!"

But again they ignored her. The medic ninja rushed to her location, moving rocks and inspecting a body. Tenten blinked; had she missed someone?

"How is she?"

"Alive, but in critical condition. We need to move fast and get her to a hospital."

The two medic ninja continued to speak quickly back and forth about the woman laying on the ground as they began trying to move her to a stretcher. Tenten, wondering who the woman was, tried to get a better look at her.

Then, she screamed. The woman who the ninja were taking care of was her. Tenten tried to wave to the ninja, tried to call to them, tried to touch them; but nothing worked. Her body passed through them, her voice didn't seem to reach them.

She was invisible.

Mixed feelings of sickness and terror gripped her; what was going on? Was she dead? No, she couldn't be dead, the ninja had said she was alive. But if she was alive, how was she seeing herself being taken away?

Tenten forced herself to get a grip; it didn't help her in any way to panic until she figured out what was going on. She followed the medic ninja who were moving her body all the way to the hospital, and tried her best not to look at her bloody form. Sure the medics had managed to partially heal the wound that the debris had caused, but they hadn't exactly washed the blood off yet, leaving her looking ghastly as a result.

They moved her body to the trauma ward, which Tenten had seen before but had never actually been placed in. To her recollection, Lee had been put here after the Chunnin exams; that must mean that she was in serious condition. Or, her body was anyway.

Absent-mindedly she swallowed hard; it wasn't like it did anything seeing as she had no physical form, but it made her feel better that she still could somehow. All around her nurses began hooking her up to a heart rate monitor and other medical equipment, while doctors discussed things in hushed tones nearby. Tenten just stood at the foot of her own bed, looking at her battered body as it lay still before her.

Then, she tried to get back in her body. She tried laying the same way it did. She tried placing her head inside her body's head. She tried going from the top, from the bottom, from above... nothing worked. Tenten and her body were separate, but at least she wasn't dead. The heart rate monitor assured her of that.

A commotion outside directed her attention away from herself. Gai-sensei and Lee were talking to a doctor, the two of them being characteristically over the top. They looked heartbroken; no, they looked worse than that. Tenten didn't even know a word to describe the way their tear-filled expressions and somber body language looked compared to their almost always upbeat and energetic demeanors. Nearby, Neji sat on one of the benches, just staring at his hands. He held them together, clearly deep in thought. It was sort of disconcerting for Tenten, seeing her normally cool-headed teammate look so disturbed.

Once again, she tried to call out to them, vainly hoping that her voice would somehow reach them. But again, nothing happened. They couldn't see her, they couldn't hear her. She couldn't touch them, she couldn't reach them.

Tenten was invisible.

Finally, the dam broke. She collapsed in a corner of her medical room and hugged her legs close before burying her head in her knees. She wanted to cry; to call out, to do something that would make people notice her. But nothing came out. No tears fell from her eyes, no words from her lips. She simply sat in the dark corner in silence, bathing in the despair that was consuming her soul.

For the next few hours, Tenten watched as people she knew came to see her body. Neither the tear-streaked faces of Ino or Sakura, nor the grim but resolute faces of Shikamaru or Kiba, nor the despondent expressions of any of her other friends did anything to make Tenten feel better. Instead, she only felt worse about the fact that they were sad for what had happened to her, and she could do nothing to say that she was alright. There she was, alone and invisible, while being surrounded by those she knew. For once, how she felt reflected her reality.

Tenten was invisible, and it didn't seem like there was anything she could do about it.


	2. Chapter 2

Time seemed to work strangely in her current form. Sometimes, minutes seemed to take hours to go by. Other times, hours went by in the blink of an eye. It was a little bit disorienting. However, other matters occupied Tenten's mind. She had watched more people come and go from her room, leaving cards bearing good will. Not that any of it helped her; she might as well have been naked for all the good it would do her.

And then she looked down on herself and screamed. She was naked after all! She hastily tried to cover herself with her arms, trying to make sure no one saw her. Tenten then slowly lowered her arms as she remembered that it didn't matter; no one could see her. Even so, the idea of running around naked, even invisibly, was not appealing to her. She tried to force herself to be clothed the same way she had found herself naked, by thinking about it.

Luckily enough, it worked. Tenten breathed a sigh of relief, before remembering that she didn't need to breath; and of course no air went in or out of her. She turned her attention out the window; night had fallen and she still hadn't found a way to help herself out of her predicament. Maybe if she got out of the hospital, she could find someone who could see her. It wasn't like it was less likely to work than anything else. And then, a strange idea popped into her head; if Tenten had no body, she couldn't be hurt. Maybe that meant she could fly too?

Without taking the time to talk herself out of it, she made a running leap towards the window of her body's room. She closed her eyes and braced for impact, fully expecting to hear the sound of breaking glass. But it never came. Tenten opened her eyes, and gasped. Like a bird, she was floating through the air. Barely able to comprehend this, she nervously began laughing as she floated above the buildings below.

For a few minutes she flew, just watching people move below her. Eventually however, she remembered that she was supposed to be finding a way back into her body. She tried to make her way to the Hyuuga estate; maybe if Neji or a member of his family activated their Byakugan, they'd be able to see her. Of course, Tenten wasn't exactly good at this whole flying thing. What should have been a reasonably short trip instead turned into a confusing and clumsy exercise in getting her body to go the way she wanted it to go. More than once she found herself floating through people's homes, completely by accident. For the second time that day she was happy she was invisible; Tenten wasn't sure she could live with the embarrassment of randomly turning up in someone's home.

The moon was high in the sky by the time she had made her way to the Hyuuga estate. For now, she was going to keep her feet on the ground; it was safer that way. Tenten walked forward, feeling at ease that there was at least a very good chance that they would be able to see her. At least, that's what she would have thought if she hadn't walked into what felt like a solid wall. She placed her hands over what seemed to be open air and pushed, but to no avail. Everywhere around the Hyuuga estate there seemed to be some kind of invisible wall keeping her out.

Well, now she needed a new plan. Who else did she know that might be able to help her? The only person to come to mind was Ino who, if Tenten remembered correctly, used a jutsu that allowed her to transfer her consciousness into others. Surely she'd know what to do. This time Tenten made her way across town on foot, to avoid ending up in some random person's home. It was also faster when she didn't have to worry about missing her target by half a mile.

The Yamanaka household was quiet at this time of night, which meant that all Tenten had to do was find Ino's bedroom. It didn't take long; her door was clearly marked with her name and everything. Inside, Ino lay sprawled out in her bed, mumbling incomprehensibly. Now, all she had to do was wake Ino up, or get her attention. She tried to grab Ino to shake her, but her hands passed right through her body. In frustration, she tried to slap Ino awake, but this time something bizarre happened.

She was sucked into Ino's head.

It was like Tenten was being pulled in by some kind of invisible magnet; sucked into a black void. The formless abyss around her sent chills down her spine. She was falling, but nothing around her affirmed that. Then, somewhere off in the distance below her, a light appeared. It rapidly grew brighter as the sound of rushing air filled Tenten's ears. With a splash, she hit a warm pool of water.

Tenten pulled her head out from under the steaming bath, trying to get a bearing on her surroundings. She was in some kind of sauna, but there was something... off about it. Everything seemed blurry and unfocused; it lacked the details that made it look real. Even the water looked off; it was like being in an oil painting done by an amateur artist.

Then, she turned and saw the only things not out of focus. One was a heavily muscular man with black hair who looked like he was chiseled out of marble. He was like looking at a god of beauty, with his long shiny hair and rock-hard abs. Then there was the woman with him, who looking shockingly like Ino. Long blonde hair, lithe and beautiful, and completely wrapped up in the arms of the man.

"Oh Ino, let's stay like this forever."

"But Sai... you know we can never be together..."

"Then let us have this moment... let us reveal our passions here and never look back..."

Tenten's eye twitched as the two figures began to passionately kiss, the water glinting off their bodies. Yep, it was time to leave. Sure, she could try to interrupt them, but all Tenten could think about was the possibility of becoming part of that romantic relationship and that simple was not going to happen.

She ran as fast as she could to get out of the bath house, the details getting fuzzier and ever more non-descript as Tenten got further away from Ino and her bath time companion. She kicked down a door, and plunged herself into the blackness again. The familiar rush of air hit her, but this time the light did not take her into another dream-like place; instead it brought her back into Ino's room.

For a moment Tenten gripped her head, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Somehow she had managed to enter Ino's dream, or at least that's what she thought happened. Well, that was two people she knew that couldn't help her. The moon had moved further in the sky; Tenten estimated that she only had a few hours left before the sun came up. Knowing where she was, she decided to hedge her bets on the person who lived closest to Ino, Shikamaru. Sure he was lazy and probably wouldn't be able to help, but Tenten was willing to try anything at this point.

Shikamaru's place wasn't too far away; only three houses stood between the Nara and Yamanaka households. This time, Tenten had a harder time finding Shikamaru's room, going so far as to accidentally walk in on his parents having sex. After removing herself from that awkward situation and vowing to never speak of it to anyone, she eventually managed to find Shikamaru's room. Without wasting any time, Tenten touched Shikamaru's head and entered his dreams.

When Tenten escaped the blackness, she was met with stunning green fields and miles and miles of rolling hills. On one of the hills lay a castle, complete with a drawbridge, a moat, banners with the Nara clan symbol, and a dragon on top. A smile crept onto her face in spite of herself; it was actually quite cute that Shikamaru dreamed of a fantasy land. She made her way up to the castle, entering it without difficulty. All around her knights and servants dashed to and fro, seemingly not doing anything. In the center of the castle, past the lines of trumpeters, sat Shikamaru on his golden throne while a similar silver throne sat empty.

His eyes immediately locked onto her. He stood, and the entire room grew quiet in an instant. "Halt! Who enters my throne room bearing such beauty?"

Tenten gulped. She had no idea how to deal with this. If she didn't play along he might wake up and she'd be back at square one. "Er..." How did people talk in these kinds of settings? "It is I, Tenten the average, come to speak with you great king."

Shikamaru looked shocked as she spoke. "Tenten the average? Nono that simply won't do! I dub thee Tenten the fair, for your beauty does not compare with any in my realm. Come! Sit on my throne as my queen."

She swallowed hard again; it seemed that in his dream he was in control. She nervously did as he commanded, sitting down on the smooth silver throne next to him. He waved his hand and sat down, and the people in the throne room went back to rushing around.

"Now then my queen, what troubles you?"

Tenten took a deep breath, hoping that somehow she could get through to him in this state. "Shikamaru, it's me, Tenten. I've been separated from my body and the only way I can talk to anyone is by entering their dreams. When you wake up you have to talk to someone and help me!"

He blinked, obviously confused. "Whatever do you mean my lady? You must be mistaken, you're not separated from your body at all! Come, let us feast and take your mind off of such nonsense."

She grabbed him by the shoulders, trying to make the most pleading expression possible. It wasn't hard to do considering how desperate she was feeling. "Shikamaru! Please! I need you to help me! My body is lying in the hospital and I can't get back in! You have to help me!"

Shikamaru looked like he was going to respond before a booming female voice shook the castle. "Shikamaru! Get your lazy butt up!" Suddenly, the world around them began to deteriorate rapidly, consumed by bright white light. "Shikamaru!" The voice continued booming as Tenten was thrown through the whiteness, back into Shikamaru's room.

She landed on his floor, not that he nor his mother could see him. All she hoped for was that Shikamaru would remember something from his dream. It was a long shot, but it was the only one she seemed to have.


	3. Chapter 3

Nervous did not begin to explain how Tenten was currently feeling. She sat outside of Shikamaru's door, resisting the urge to stay in his bedroom while he got dressed. She had already violated his dreams, she wasn't going to violate his personal space on top of that. At least she had time to think about what she had done the night before; it was beyond strange to enter someone's dreams like that.

She wasn't even going to get herself started on Ino; all Tenten was just going to do everything in her power to forget that she ever saw that. Shikamaru on the other hand just worried her. She knew that she didn't remember most of her dreams, if he didn't remember last night Tenten would be no closer to contacting someone about her predicament.

Behind her, Shikamaru's bedroom door opened. The black-haired man yawned and began moving downstairs, yawning and seemingly paying no attention to the world around him. Tenten quickly followed him, feeling like an awkward stalker as she watching him do exciting things like eat breakfast, talk with his parents, and take an afternoon nap. Truly, she had gotten through to him the night before.

Then, sometime around two-thirty if Tenten was estimating the time correctly, Shikamaru suddenly got up and made his way to the hospital. She followed him, wondering why he had decided to show up now. Secretly Tenten hoped that her message had gotten through to him, but if that was the case, why had he decided to only go here now?

He eventually stopped right outside her window, initially filling her with hope. His face however, confused her. He looked legitimately sad, but he also looked regretful. What did he have to regret? Maybe she was misreading him; Shikamaru was notorious for being able to hide what he was really feeling. Eventually, he sat down on one of the small couches in the hallway, his head resting against his folded hands. Tenten sat next to him, not that he could tell. She wished that she could figure out what was on his mind, but she wasn't good enough to be able to read people well.

"I thought I'd find you here Shika."

Tenten turned to see Choji standing there, munching on a bag of chips. She silently berated herself for not being aware of his approach, but it wasn't like she was used to her current situation.

Shikamaru sighed. "I really messed up this time."

"You didn't have any way of knowing that there would be an accident. This isn't your fault." Choji sat down next to him, going so far as to stop eating in order to focus on his friend.

"Had it not been for me, she wouldn't be lying there right now."

"Had it not been for you, the people she got out of the way would have been crushed."

Shikamaru pressed his forehead against his folded hands. "Calling this troublesome just feels like an understatement right now."

Choji placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "It'll be alright. She's alive, isn't she? She'll wake up soon."

"And what if she doesn't Choji? What if she doesn't?"

"We can't think like that Shika. Come on, let's go get something to eat and take your mind off things. Maybe play a game of shogi."

"Listen, Choji, I appreciate what you're trying to do. But I can't even sleep without seeing her in my dreams."

"You had another one of your dreams? Shika, they're just dreams. You can't let them effect how you live your life."

Shikamaru turned a finally looked Choji in the eyes. His expression was hard, completely different from his normally passive look. "She was begging me to help her Choji. She was begging me to help her and I couldn't do anything. She just showed up in the middle of my dream and started begging me for help. And here I am, unable to do anything." He slumped back into his seat, as his uninterested expression returned to his face.

"Shika, I understand that you're feeling guilty, but none of this is your fault. That dream was only because of all the stress you're putting yourself through. Don't let it affect how you live."

"You're right Choji." He let out another deep sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "There isn't much I can do besides check in on her condition from time to time anyway."

"Right, and I'm sure Sakura or one of the other medical ninja will be sure to give her the best care available."

Shikamaru gave Choji a small smile as he stood up and stretched. "You're right. Hey, you want to get something to eat? I'm suddenly starving."

"Sounds great!"

Off to the side, Tenten watched as the two men departed, laughing to each other and in good spirits. In contrast, her mood had sunk faster than lead shoes in water. He was the one who sent her that note? He was her secret admirer?

At first, Tenten felt like punching him, not that she could. It was all his fault that she was in this mess! If he hadn't sent her that note, she never would have gone to the town gates, and she never would have been hit by that falling rubble! But Choji had raised a good point with Shikamaru; it wasn't like he knew that it was going to happen. He hadn't planned on the gate falling apart like that when she showed up.

So really, it wasn't his fault. But she really had lucked out in managing to find out who her secret admirer was completely on accident. Of course, this left one small problem. Shikamaru remembered her in his dream, but thought that she was blaming him for what had happened! Then again, that was partly her fault for trying to cram her message in there at the last second. She'd have to try again at the start of the night to ensure that she had enough time to get through to him this time.

Tenten sighed and leaned against the wall, only to find herself falling backwards as she passed right through it and fell three stories to the ground. At least she didn't have to worry about getting hurt. Still, it was quite embarrassing to think that she was being so clumsy. A kunoichi should be more competent than this! After grumbling about how troublesome this whole thing was, she mentally slapped herself. She was starting to sound like Shikamaru there for a second. Hopefully being in his dreams for long periods of time didn't alter her way of thinking; that would be rather hard to explain to her teammates once she got back into her body... if she got back into her body that was.

Getting back to Shikamaru's house was easier now that she knew where he lived. Of course, it wasn't like he'd be home this early in the evening; he was probably out doing something with Choji, Kiba, or Naruto. It wasn't like he spent a lot of time with Neji or Lee from what Tenten remembered. Initially she debated about trying to find him, but the chance of getting lost in her current form and being unable to get back to his home in a timely manner outweighed the chance of learning some more about him when he didn't think that she was around to see him.

What she got to see in the meantime were his parents. Yoshino and Shikaku were... interesting to say the least. Well, more like terrifying if Tenten had to use a more accurate adjective to describe them. Shikaku just seemed like a lazy drunk, and it was clear that Shikamaru got most of his personality from him. Yoshino on the other hand was like a walking fireball of destructing, her strong will seemed to be able to easily push her husband around even while he was drinking. It was no wonder Shinkamaru was so passive; trying to resist her would be like trying to tell the tide not to come in.

Once again Tenten was glad she wasn't visible to the pair, but the fact that she got any enjoyment from her situation worried her. She couldn't talk to anyone, touch anyone, or be seen by anyone; and yet she had now found two reasons to like what had happened. Nothing wrong with making the best of a bad situation right?

Just as she was about to go outside in order to get away from the happy couple, their antics were interrupted by the entrance of Shikamaru. He looked between his parents, giving each a nod before disappearing upstairs. Barely a second after he disappeared, the two of them went back to their bizarre way of showing affection.

Enough was enough. Tenten wasted no time in making her way upstairs to Shikamaru's room. She found him laying on his bed, arms folded behind his head under his pillow. She sat at the foot of his bed, just looking at him, wondering what he saw in her. If she hadn't heard it from his lips, she'd never have believed that he was the one that sent her that note.

A giggle escaped her as she thought about what it would be like to be with him. The idea of walking down the street hand in hand with a man with Shikamaru was a strange one. She had always been around men like Lee, Gai-sensei, and Neji; men who were completely different from Shikamaru in just about every way. Well, Lee and Neji were both prodigies of some sort... And Shikamaru was a genius. Did that him a prodigy as well?

Tenten shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts; it didn't matter if he was similar or different than her teammates if he couldn't see her. Though, she had to admit, he was really cute while he slept. He just looked so peaceful, contrary to his normally passive, disinterested, or annoyed expressions that normally crossed his face.

Without thinking, she laid down on the bed next to him. For a moment, Tenten's problems didn't seem that important anymore. She was content laying there, listening to his rhythmic breathing. Turning over, she fixed her gaze on him; it was clear that he was finally asleep, but she didn't want to leave his side just yet.

And yet the weight of her situation was bearing down on her, refusing to let her stay in her relaxed state for long. It wasn't like Tenten to waste time when a job needed doing after all. She gently touched Shikamaru's forehead, allowing herself to be drawn into his mind once again.

The fall though the blackness was shorter this time, but it gave way to a truly alien looking world. The ground was a black and white checkerboard, while titanic shogi pieces loomed above. All around her people with shogi symbols on them moved in the same way the pieces they were associated with moved on the board. Of course, they moved along the checkerboard earth as if it was the most normal thing to do.

Luckily for her, Tenten didn't seem to be bound by the rules that governed the rest of the people. Upon further inspection, the giant shogi pieces were actually buildings. Even so, it wasn't hard to figure out which one Shikamaru was in; the king building was clearly the most detailed, and if Tenten's previous experiences held true the most detailed parts of the dream were closest to the dreamer.

Upon making her way inside, she was initially taken aback by the scene before her. The entire building was hollow, save for a giant shogi board in the center. Presiding over it was Shikamaru, who was giant-sized so that the board was regular sized to him. His eyes darted all over the board and occasionally moved a piece or two on either side. Outside, Tenten could see the giant shogi pieces move in relation to how he played; she didn't want to see what happened when one piece captured another.

Now, there was the problem of getting his attention. She could yell at him, but it was likely that he was too absorbed in his game to take notice of her. She could try to cause a disturbance, but that was equally likely to go unnoticed. Therefore, there was only one option for her; she jumped onto the board.

As it turned out, the distance between her and the board was a bit farther than she had estimated; either that or sizes and distances worked different in this dream. Regardless, she landed right on a pawn, and her ears were greeted with the sound of a cataclysmic crash outside. Oops.

"Who's interrupting my game?" His voice seemed as loud as a sound jutsu, forcing her to cover her ears. Suddenly, a shadow fell over her as she was enveloped by his hand. For a moment, she was in total darkness, trapped within his hand without any way out. Then, she felt herself being turned on her head as he turned his palm upward.

Tenten suddenly found herself looking up at Shikamaru, like this was some kind of bizarre telling of Jack and the Beanstalk. Suddenly worried that he wouldn't recognize her in his dream like last time, she decided to improvise. "Er... hey Shikamaru! You wouldn't happen to know where the bathroom is, would you?"

Shikamaru blinked. "Tenten? Is that you?" He leaned in closer, inspecting her like she was another one of his pieces. Then again, she had jumped onto his board, and probably caused the deaths of hundreds of dream-people, so perhaps she was.

"Uh, yeah. Hi."

More blinking. "Uh..." Suddenly, the world around Tenten began to shimmer, just as it had the night before.

"No! Shikamaru! Don't wake up! Focus on staying asleep!" Her panicked voice rang out, she didn't have any idea how much time had passed in the real world; it could have been five minutes, or it could have been five hours, and she might have lost her chance to get through to him.

But, strangely enough, the dream didn't end. Instead, the world shifted, initially leaving Tenten in a limbo consisting of the crumbling world around her. But then, no blackness followed. Instead, it transformed.

Soft harp music hit her ears as the Tenten watched the scene shift to that of a very fancy restaurant. The smell of high class food wafted towards her, as the almost unintelligible sounds of conversation could be heard from all directions with no clear source.

"Excuse me, let me help you up."

Tenten looked up to see a very sharply dressed Shikamaru offering his hand to her. Black suit, red shirt, black tie. Sharply dressed indeed. Every part of him looked perfect... She made a note to remember this image of him for late.

Of course, as she was helped up, she noticed that her own appearance had changed as well. The clothes that she had been wearing when she had had her accident had shifted to fit the scene; her casual attire had become a very form fitting crimson Chinese-style dress.

Then it hit her; Tenten had become part of Shikamaru's dream. A clearly romantic dream. The question was, did she was to get through to him, or allow herself to go through the fantasy as well?


End file.
